SME Exporters Hit By New US Customs Charges

31st July 2025

William Bain, Head of Trade Policy, responds to President Trump’s decision to charge import duties for low value goods entering the US

Responding to President Trump’s decision to charge import duties for low value goods entering the US, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy, said:  

“This development has been coming for several months but is still a major blow to UK exporters to the US. Smaller firms and sole traders, who have invested strongly in e-commerce sales internationally, will be worst hit.  

“But the UK is in a comparatively advantageous position in terms of these additional duties compared with those faced by other countries.  

“The EU is also likely to scrap its de minimis threshold by 2028, and the UK government is launching a review into removing the threshold here too.  

“There are still great opportunities, both in the US market and other markets globally for UK goods, but SMEs will need to rethink their sales and distribution plans to deal with these added duties.  

“The Chamber Network in the UK, and internationally, can provide the best advice, alongside the logistics industry, to overcome these challenges and sustain export growth. 

“Action on the government’s new trade strategy is now also more urgent. Exporters to the US, particularly SMEs and sole traders, will need additional support and advice to deal with the disruption and added costs these de minimis threshold changes will cause.” 

Under the Executive Order issued by the President, duties will be payable on goods valued under $800 from August 29. These will be in line with the rates applied to other goods from each country in accordance with its tariff rates.  

For most UK goods export sectors this means the tariff rate they used to have plus the additional 10% reciprocal rate applied to most UK goods since April.  

Alternatively, for the first six months only, a specific rate of $80 per item would apply to low value packages from the UK entering the US. After that period the duties described above will be enforced on all packages of UK origin in scope.  

More detail on the US changes to de minimis thresholds can be found here.